Load-based mapping

ABSTRACT

This document describes techniques and apparatuses for load-based mapping. The techniques provide routes for drivers that take into account a cognitive, emotional, or psychological load for the routes. By so doing, a driver can receive a route from one point to another that the driver may better enjoy, feel less tired or stressed by, or take less mental effort to drive.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to, and is a continuation of U.S.Utility application Ser. No. 15/588,097, filed May 5, 2017 which in turnclaims priority to U.S. Provisional Application 62/333,002, filed May 6,2016, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein intheir entireties.

BACKGROUND

Many conventional mapping systems provide drivers with a fastest orshortest route from one point to another. A driver asks for directionsto a particular house or business, and the conventional systems indicatethe fastest route, or perhaps the shortest route, taking into accountcurrent or historic traffic patterns.

SUMMARY

This document describes techniques and apparatuses for load-basedmapping. The techniques provide routes for drivers that take intoaccount a cognitive, emotional, or psychological load for the routes. Byso doing, a driver can receive a route from one point to another thatthe driver may better enjoy, feel less tired or stressed by, or takeless mental effort to drive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanyingfigures. In the figures, the left-most digit of a reference numberidentifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Theuse of the same reference numbers in different instances in thedescription and the figures indicate similar or identical items.

FIG. 1 illustrates an operating environment in which techniques enablingload-based mapping can be performed.

FIG. 2 illustrates the computing device of FIG. 1 in greater detail.

FIG. 3 illustrates example methods for load-based mapping.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example map having load annotations.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

This document describes techniques and apparatuses enabling load-basedmapping. Techniques for load-based mapping provide routes for driversthat take into account a cognitive, emotional, or psychological load forroutes. Assume, for example, that a driver asks for directions from herhouse to a business 12 miles away. Conventional mapping systems find theshortest or quickest route, and provide one or both of these for thedriver to select. But studies show that many tasks do not just have timecost—here the time to drive, or a resource cost (e.g., gas in your car).Instead, there is a load, a “cost”, that is not simply time orresources. In contrast to conventional mapping systems, the disclosedtechniques for load-based mapping consider the load of potential routes,and then provide the route or routes that are lower cost in terms of adriver's load in driving the route.

In more detail, assume that there are four routes from the driver'shouse to a business 12 miles away (point-to-point, not on roads), thefour routes taking the following times and distances on road:

-   -   Route 1: 24 minutes, 17.3 Miles    -   Route 2: 26 minutes, 14.8 Miles    -   Route 3: 29 minutes, 15.3 Miles    -   Route 4: 28 minutes, 16.4 Miles

Conventional mapping systems would select Route 1 or Route 2. Theload-based mapping would consider also the following factors in creatingor analyzing created routes:

-   -   Route 1: Predominantly Freeway, four lanes each way, rarely        driven by driver, many perceived dangers (two and three-trailer        semi-trucks, large loaded vehicles, fast-driving sports cars).        Little if any nature.    -   Route 2: Small portion of route previously driven by driver, by        many stops, lights, and turns. Portions having one lane with no        median, no shoulder, and small to no gap to objects on sides of        road. Moderate nature, but many buildings and homes.    -   Route 3: Large portion of route commonly driven by driver,        moderate stops and lights, few turns. Two lanes predominant,        some with shoulder and median, some without. Wide gap to objects        on side of road. Moderate nature, some distance views, low        claustrophobia conditions.    -   Route 4: Small portion of route commonly driven by driver, few        stops and few lights, but high perceived danger due to no        median, no shoulder, and many entry points from parking lots and        sides roads onto large portions of route. Moderate nature, some        distance views, low claustrophobia conditions.

As shown in this example, many different types of factors affect theload for a driver of a route. In some cases this is independent ofpersonality, and in some others it is not. Further, while it may beindependent of a person's history, having that person's history can aidin determining a cognitive load for routes having portions that thedriver has or has not previously traveled. Thus, the techniques maydecide, based on the particular driver having driven portions of route 3over 20 times in the last six months, as well as the moderate stops,lights, and turns, and lower perceived danger, that route 3 is the bestlow-load route for that driver.

Example Operating Environment

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an example environment 100 in which thetechniques enable load-based mapping. Environment 100 includes a driver102, a computing device 104, a load-based mapping module 106 (mappingmodule 106), and four routes. The computing device 104 includes an inputstructure 108 and an output structure 110. Here the input structure 108is a microphone or touch screen through which to receive a request 112(“Directions to Jim's Construction Materials Please”) for a route to anend location. The output structure 110 is one way in which to provide aroute determined by the mapping module 106, such as audio or visualstructures like a speaker or display. These structures can be separatefrom or integral with the computing device 104.

Responsive to the request 112, the mapping module 106 determines, basedon one or more factors affecting a cognitive, emotional, orpsychological load, a determined route from the start location to theend location. A load can includes cognitive, emotional, or psychologicalloads. An emotional load is one having a negative emotional effect on aperson, or a positive effect has a low or even negative load. Thisemotional effect is one in which a person feels a negative emotionscaused by some factor, such as dirty streets and graffiti, or converselya beautiful pasture with wildlife. Examples include nature andaesthetics as well as perceived danger as described herein. A cognitiveload is one having mental effort on a driver, which may be apparent tothe driver based on a perceived speed of the drive or how tiring thedrive seems. Examples include new or fairly new routes, which havehigher loads (prior-driven route or route portion is a low load factor)and route-based disturbances. Similarly, mental loads include those dragon a driver or force them to stay focused, such as road surroundings,lane number, and types of vehicles. There can be some overlap with eachof these examples, as perceived danger for example can cause a cognitiveor mental load as well. In some cases the determination is also based ona time or distance for potential routes from the start location to theend location or portions thereof. The mapping module 106 then provides,here through the output structure 110, at least one route. Four routesare provided in this example, including a fastest route 114, a shortestroute 116, and two low-load routes, often-traveled route 118 andlow-stress route 120. The driver may quickly select one of these routes,as a driver may be in a hurry and select the fastest route 114,stressed, and thus the low-stress route 120, or in a typical mood,tired, or preoccupied (e.g., with kids in the car), the often-traveledroute 118, as it requires very little mental effort from the driver.

As shown in FIG. 2, the computing device 104 can be one or a combinationof various devices, here illustrated with five examples: a laptopcomputer 104-1, a tablet computer 104-2, a smart phone 104-3, anautomobile navigation system 104-4, and a computing watch 104-5, thoughother computing devices and systems, such as small wearable devices mayalso be used. The computing device 104 includes the input structure 108,the output structure 110 (both of which can be integral or disparate butin communication with computing device 104), one or more computerprocessors 202, and one or more computer-readable storage media 204. Thestorage media 104 includes an operating system 206, the load-basedmapping module 106 of FIG. 1, a driver history 208, maps 210, loadfactors 212, and one or more routes 214.

The driver history 208 includes information about the user or driverrequesting the route. This may include past routes or portions of routesdriven, how often, how they were received by the driver (e.g., did thedriver complain to their device or other passengers? Did the driver takethe route once and avoid it in future? Does the driver take a particularroute portion often even when faster or shorter options are available?).The driver history 208 may also include information about a driver'sexplicit selections, such as selecting that he or she enjoyed or did notenjoy a route, or thought the route was fast or slow (these are how adriver feels, not the actual time, with the drivers feeling of speedindicating a lower load to the driver). The driver may even select apreference for nature, for safety, feeling uncomfortable with higherspeeds, narrower lanes, undivided highways, other driver's ability topull right out into traffic without on-ramps or transition zones, and soforth. Other information can be more-passively collected, such as soundsor music played indicating children in the car, or the type of locationindicating children are likely to be in the car (e.g., a foam dart orlaser tag arena, trampoline gym, children's theater, school, etc.).Having children in a car often indicates a greater preference for safetyby drivers, and a lower ability to handle stress or cognitive load.

The maps 210 are various maps or portions thereof, which can be thosepresent in the current state of the art, but with non-conventionaladditions and annotations for load associated with particular portions.This can be useful for the mapping module 106 to quickly assess load formultiple routes, even if those routes were not provided by the mappingmodule 106.

The load factors 212 can include many types of loads, examples of whichare set forth below. As noted in part above, cognitive, emotional, orpsychological load for driving routes affects how the route is perceivedand the actual non-resource or time costs to a driver or passengers—notjust the time spent.

These loads include various load factors, including:

-   -   Road surroundings, such as narrowness, how close objects are to        the road—does it hug houses, trees, and businesses, or are they        set back from the road. The narrower the gap from the road the        other objects, the higher the load for the route. This, along        with long-distance views, can affect drivers, especially those        having any claustrophobia feelings. Many people, even those        without a diagnosed condition like claustrophobia, have lower        psychological load to open spaces and large gaps from road to        objects, than the opposite.    -   Lane number, such as one, two, or three lanes. In some cases two        lanes is the lowest load, as three can induce stress from having        to pay attention to more cars in more areas. One lane, in some        cases, has a higher load than two, depending on how often a        driver may get behind another car and not be able to pass. Roads        that are one lane may have a lowest load, however, if there are        occasional passing lanes.    -   Nature on the route, the greater the amount of nature, the lower        the load, unless the amount of nature induces stress due to too        much visually happening, though this is unlikely in most routes.    -   Aesthetics, such as industry on the route, and the beauty of        that industry. Is it two-story shops or 10-story smelting        furnaces? Larger, louder, and uglier buildings and industry        induce higher amounts of load.    -   Types of vehicles typically on the route. Higher load is caused        by large vehicles, such as semi-tractor trailers, as well as        vehicles carrying an exposed load, as that induces stress if a        driver may be concerned about items in an exposed load falling        off the vehicle.    -   Perceived Danger. If a driver perceives danger, whether or not        it exists, the load is higher for the route—this includes routes        with large or loaded vehicles as noted above, vehicles being        able to join the road without a gradual entry (such as cars        stopped at roads or parking lots perpendicular to the route        road, and from which they can jump in). Other perceived dangers        includes wild animals on route (e.g., signs that say “watch for        deer.”), falling rock possibilities or signs indicating the        same, lack of a shoulder or safe spot to drive off the road if a        danger exists, and so forth.    -   Prior-driven route or route portion. The cognitive load on        driving a new route is higher than a route a driver has driven        before, especially if the driver has driven the route or portion        thereof many times before. Thus, the techniques may even pull        two commonly-driver routes together to lower the cognitive load        for the driver, thereby proactively determining a route that may        be a best route for the driver, or at least has a low cognitive        load due to most of it being driven, even if in portions,        previously.    -   Route-Based Disturbances. These include anything that requires        the driver to change what they are doing, but each can be        weighted different. Thus, a mild turn on a same road is weighted        low, but has some load to it. A stop and then 90 degree turn has        a much higher load. Stop-and-go traffic has a high load.        Stopping at a light has a load, even in additional to the time        it takes, as it irritates many drivers. Each turn has a load, as        does each instruction that has to be given, even if it is to        continue on the current road. This is an interruption, as they        all are, and thus each has a load.

In addition to these factors, information about the driver andpassengers can affect the route selected. A driver may indicate that heor she does not have passengers, and thus the techniques may down-weightperceived danger. Or a driver may have recorded preferences indicatingthat nature and space around the road are important, or this may bedetermined based on prior indications by the driver of what he or shefelt about the route—did they like the route, did they feel it was safeor peaceful, and the like. These, over time, can indicate differencesbetween drivers, and therefore the route selected or prepared for thedriver.

Ways in which elements example operating environment 100 act andinteract, as well as entities of FIGS. 1 and 2, are set forth in greaterdetail below. The entities are examples only, other entities may beinvolved and other arrangements, such as a wearable device communicatingwith a server or an automobile navigation system, may instead be used.

Methods for Load-Based Mapping

This disclosure describes techniques for load-based mapping. Thesetechniques enable low-load or lower-load routes, which can reduce driverfatigue, increase enjoyment, or even improve a driver's safety. Thesetechniques include various methods illustrated below, which may be usedseparately or in combination, in whole or in part. Aspects of thesemethods may be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or acombination thereof. The methods are shown as a set of acts that specifyoperations performed by one or more entities and are not necessarilylimited to the order shown.

FIG. 3 illustrates methods 300 for load-based mapping. At 302, a requestfor a route is received. This route can be from a start location to anend location, or a portion thereof, and can be from a driver's currentlocation or some future location. By way of example, consider again theexample illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown, the driver requested directionsto a construction store through speech, which was recognized and sent tothe mapping module 106.

At 304, a route is determined, based on one or more factors affecting acognitive, emotional, or psychological load, and optionally a time ordistance for potential routes from start location to the end location.Continuing the above example, the mapping module 106 determines fourroutes or determines, based on provided routes, those having a lowerload for the driver.

In more detail, the mapping module uses factors, such as the loadfactors 212 of FIG. 2, to determine a low-load route or pick a low orlowest-load route provided by some other entity, such as conventionmapping services that provide multiple routes from point A to point B.

In some cases, the mapping module 106 determines a route throughdetermining a change to a portion of an existing route, such as oneprovided from another entity. This change to the portion altering theexisting route based on the one or more factors, such as taking aprovided fastest route, and determining that from mile 1.3 to 1.7, thereis a low-load alternative, such as driving through farmland instead of abusy road, that reduces the load while costing only 30 seconds. In sucha case, the mapping module 106 may provide this new route or suggest thealteration.

Furthermore, the mapping module 106 can determine that a prior routedriven multiple times by the driver advances the driver from the firstlocation to the second location. Assume, for example, that the mappingmodule 106 determines that a driver often drives his children to school.While there is a faster alternative, the desired location can be reachedby first driving to the school and then another 7 minutes along a routenot commonly driven by the driver. The alternative, however, is a23-minute drive, all of which is rarely driven, rather than 17 minutesof known and 7 more of unknown. This 24-minute drive, because of the 17minutes being well known, has a low mental load on the driver eventhough it increases the time by one minute. For example, many peoplefeel like a drive that is a new, unknown route, takes longer than thereturn home. Why is this? Because the person has driven it zero times onthe way out, and once on the way back. Even this one drive makes adifference, as most people feel it is faster on the drive back. Theactual time and distance can be identical, but the drive feels faster,as the cognitive load of a complete unknown is much higher than even alightly-known route. This mental load is a real cost for people, as itcan increase stress, tire a person's mind (and reduce safety), andsimply be less enjoyable.

At 306, the determined route is provided. The route can be provided to adriver of the route, an entity that requested the route, and so forth.Further, the route can be provided in whole or in part. In some cases, aportion of the route is given, such as an audio instruction indicating achange to an existing route, such as “turn right at Wilson Street for apleasant natural drive, adding only 40 seconds to your trip”. Or a routecan be provided in full, such as in a text-based interface orstep-by-step audio.

In still other cases, a determined route indicates directions to thebeginning of the prior route or from the end of the prior route to thesecond location. In such a case, a route can be provided in prior-drivenparts. The mapping module 106 may provide an instruction of “Proceed toJohn's School, from there you have only 7 more minutes to go”, which iscommonly driven by the driver. When the driver is near John's School(the end of the prior-driven route), the mapping module 106 can outputother instructions, either to proceed along another well-known route forthe driver or step-by-step instructions. By so doing, audio instructionscan be ceased during the well-known portions, which reduces theirritation caused by navigation audio, further reducing the load for thedrive.

Optionally at 308, the driver's preferences are learned, and the driverhistory is updated. This can be explicit through selection of thedriver, or based on the driver refusing a suggestion that has a lowerload, or selecting a route having various characteristics, such as amore-natural route over a route having a higher perceived safety.

As noted in part above, determining a route may involve receivingmultiple potential routes or portions of routes and determining, basedon the factors and the time or distance, which is the best route. Thus,the mapping module 106 may work with other applications that provideconventional routes.

Consider, by way of further example, FIG. 4, which illustrates a map 400having annotations for portions of the map and their associated factors.In this example, particular factors are marked, which have associatedloads, though these loads can vary in importance generally, and forparticular persons. In detail, see narrow road 402, large lane number404, small lane number 406 (here only marked as a load for higher-speedregions), nature 408, aesthetics 410, types of vehicles 412 (here largesemitrailers), perceived danger 414, and prior-driven portion 416. Notethat but a few of the many factors are shown here for visual brevity,each turn has a load, as does each light, the wait at those lights, theangle of the turn, and so forth.

Each of these can be weighed against each other and the time and/ordistance as noted above. Time and distance can also be calculated asloads rather than independently, and thus only factors and their loadsare used to decide a best route. Adding 3% to the time it takes to drivesomewhere is an increase in the load, but that increase is often smallrelative other loads, such as nature, aesthetics, and prior-drivenportions. Adding 30% to the time or distance, however, is a largeincrease in load except for very short trips, and thus the mappingmodule 106 selects against this increase to pick the shorter route intime or distance.

Note that one or more of the entities shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, such asthe mapping module 106, may be further divided, combined, and so on.Each of these entities can be hardware, software, firmware, or acombination thereof, and/or stored on computer-readable storage media(as shown) and executed by one or more processors. Thiscomputer-readable storage media may include, by way of example and notlimitation, memory devices with persistent and/or non-transitory datastorage, RAM, ROM, flash, and disk storage devices (e.g., magnetic andoptical hard disk drives or compact disc or digital versatile disk(DVD)). The computing device 104 can be one or a combination of a wiredand/or a wireless device, including those noted above as well as aperipheral, a server device, and similar computing devices.

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological techniques and/or acts, it isto be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claimsis not necessarily limited to the specific features, techniques, or actsdescribed above, including orders in which they are performed.

What is claimed is:
 1. One or more non-transitory computer-readablestorage media having instructions stored thereon that, responsive toexecution by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors toperform operations comprising: determining, based on one or more factorsaffecting a cognitive, emotional, or psychological load for potentialroutes from a start location to an end location, a determined route forat least a portion of a route from the start location to the endlocation, the one or more factors affecting the cognitive, emotional, orpsychological load including road surroundings for a portion of at leastone of the potential routes, lane number for a portion of at least oneof the potential routes, an amount of nature on a portion of at leastone of the potential routes, types of vehicles present or likely to bepresent on a portion of at least one of the potential routes, perceiveddanger of a portion of at least one of the potential routes, aprior-driven route portion driven by the driver for at least a portionof one of the potential routes, aesthetics of a portion of at least oneof the potential routes, or a route-based disturbance of a portion of atleast one of the potential routes, the one or more factors including atleast the prior-driven route portion driven by the driver for a least aportion of one of the potential routes, wherein the determined routeincludes the at least one prior-driven route portion driven by thedriver, the prior-driven route portion having a first location and asecond location, the first location at or after the start location ofthe determined route and the second location at or before the endlocation of the determine route; and providing the determined route tothe driver, an entity from which a request to determine the route wasreceived, or an automobile navigation system.
 2. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein determining thedetermined route further comprises receiving multiple potential routesand the determining selects the determined route from the receivedmultiple potential routes based on the factors.
 3. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the determining thedetermined route determines a change to a portion of an existing route,the existing route determined based on a time or distance, the change tothe portion altering the existing route based on the one or morefactors.
 4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim3, wherein the altering the existing route ceases audio for step-by-stepinstructions for at least a portion of the prior-driven route portion.5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1,wherein using the prior-driven route portion increases a total time forthe route compared to a fastest route from the start location to the endlocation.
 6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim1, wherein providing the determined route includes providing aninstruction indicating to proceed to a name for the second location orthe prior-driven route portion, the providing reducing an amount ofinstructions of step-by-step instructions to proceed from the startlocation to the end location.
 7. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage media of claim 6, wherein reducing the amount of instructionsavoids at least one instruction of the step-by-step instructions toproceed from the first location to the second location, the avoided atleast one instruction including an instruction to turn from one streetto another street or change lanes.
 8. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein providing thedetermined route with the prior-driven route portion ceases audioinstructions during at least a portion of the prior-driven routeportion.
 9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim1, wherein providing the determined route includes step-by-stepinstructions from the second location of the prior-driven location tothe end location.
 10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediaof claim 1, wherein providing the determined route includes a singleinstruction to proceed to the second location, the single instructionnot including step-by-step instructions from the first location to thesecond location.
 11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediaof claim 1, wherein providing the determined route provides thedetermined route in prior-driven portions, the prior-driven portionsincluding at least the prior-driven route portion and an additionalprior-driven route portion.
 12. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage media of claim 1, wherein determining the determined route fromthe start location to the end location further comprises the determinedroute including a second prior-driven route portion previously driven bythe driver, the prior-driven route portion having a third location afterthe second location and at or before the end location.
 13. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 12, whereinproviding the determined route includes providing instructionsindicating to proceed to the third location, the instructions to thethird location indicating a name for the third location and effective toavoid at least one step of step-by-step instructions to proceed from thesecond location to the third location.
 14. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the one or morefactors further include at least the road surroundings for a portion ofat least one of the potential routes, and wherein the road surroundingsfor the portion of the at least one of the potential routes isdetermined to have a low cognitive, emotional, or psychological loadbased on the road surroundings for the portion having open spaces andlarge gaps from a road of the portion to objects, and wherein thedetermined route includes the portion determined to have the lowcognitive, emotional, or psychological load.
 15. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the one or morefactors further include at least the lane number for a portion of atleast one of the potential routes, and wherein the lane number for theportion of the at least one of the potential routes is determined tohave a low cognitive, emotional, or psychological load based on the lanenumber being two lanes, and wherein the determined route includes theportion determined to have the low cognitive, emotional, orpsychological load.
 16. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedia of claim 1, wherein the one or more factors further include atleast the types of vehicles on or likely to be on a portion of at leastone of the potential routes, and wherein the types of vehicles for theportion of the at least one of the potential routes is determined tohave a high cognitive, emotional, or psychological load based on thetypes of vehicles including semi-tractor trailers, and wherein thedetermined route does not include the portion determined to have thehigh cognitive, emotional, or psychological load.
 17. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the one or morefactors further include at least the perceived danger for a portion ofat least one of the potential routes, and wherein the perceived dangerfor the portion of the at least one of the potential routes isdetermined to have a high cognitive, emotional, or psychological loadbased on the perceived danger including a lack of shoulder or lack ofgradual entry, and wherein the determined route does not include theportion determined to have the high cognitive, emotional, orpsychological load.
 18. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedia of claim 1, wherein the providing the determined route is providedto the driver and the providing is through an audio or visual outputstructure of a computing device.
 19. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the providing thedetermined route is provided to the automobile navigation system, andwherein the automobile navigation system includes an audio or visualoutput structure and through which instructions to perform thedetermined route are to be presented to the driver.
 20. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 19, wherein theproviding the determined route to the automobile navigation system isprovided from a smartphone or wearable computing device associated withthe one or more processors.
 21. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage media of claim 1, wherein the providing the determine route isprovided to the entity from which the request to determine the route wasreceived, the entity being a smartphone or wearable computing device,the smartphone or wearable computing device including an audio or visualoutput structure integral with the smartphone or wearable computingdevice and through which instructions to perform the determined routeare to be presented to the driver.
 22. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, further comprising receivingthe request, from the driver, for a route to the end location andwherein the start location is determined based on a current location ofa computing device at which the request is received.
 23. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein thetime or distance is one of the one or more factors affecting thecognitive, emotional, or psychological load.
 24. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein providing thedetermined route includes providing instructions indicating to proceedto a name for the prior-driven route portion or the second location, theproviding effective to avoid at least one step of step-by-stepinstructions to proceed from the first location to the second locationand wherein the one or more factors further include at least the roadsurroundings for a portion of at least one of the potential routes, andwherein the road surroundings for the portion of the at least one of thepotential routes is determined to have a low cognitive, emotional, orpsychological load based on the road surroundings for the portion havingopen spaces and large gaps from a road of the portion to objects, andwherein the determined route includes the portion determined to have thelow cognitive, emotional, or psychological load.
 25. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein providing thedetermined route includes providing instructions indicating to proceedto a name for the prior-driven route portion or for the second location,the providing effective to avoid at least one step of step-by-stepinstructions to proceed from the first location to the second locationand wherein the one or more factors further include at least the lanenumber for a portion of at least one of the potential routes, andwherein the lane number for the portion of the at least one of thepotential routes is determined to have a low cognitive, emotional, orpsychological load based on the lane number being two lanes, and whereinthe determined route includes the portion determined to have the lowcognitive, emotional, or psychological load.
 26. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein providing thedetermined route includes providing instructions indicating to proceedto a name for the prior-driven route portion or for the second location,the providing effective to avoid at least one step of step-by-stepinstructions to proceed from the first location to the second locationand wherein the one or more factors further include at least the typesof vehicles on or likely to be on a portion of at least one of thepotential routes, and wherein the types of vehicles for the portion ofthe at least one of the potential routes is determined to have a highcognitive, emotional, or psychological load based on the types ofvehicles including semi-tractor trailers, and wherein the determinedroute does not include the portion determined to have the highcognitive, emotional, or psychological load.
 27. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein providing thedetermined route includes providing instructions indicating to proceedto a name for the prior-driven route portion or for the second location,the providing effective to avoid at least one step of step-by-stepinstructions to proceed from the first location to the second locationand wherein the one or more factors further include at least theperceived danger for a portion of at least one of the potential routes,and wherein the perceived danger for the portion of the at least one ofthe potential routes is determined to have a high cognitive, emotional,or psychological load based on the perceived danger including a lack ofshoulder or lack of gradual entry, and wherein the determined route doesnot include the portion determined to have the high cognitive,emotional, or psychological load.
 28. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the determining thedetermined route is based on a driver history indicating, for at least arecorded portion of one or more of the potential routes, a load orpreference for the recorded portion.
 29. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 28, wherein the load orpreference for the recorded portion includes a number of times that thedriver has driven the recorded portion, the number of times inverselyassociated with the load for the recorded portion.
 30. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 28, wherein theload or preference for the recorded portion includes an explicitselection by the driver of the preference for or against the recordedportion.
 31. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim28, wherein the driver history is determined, prior to the determiningthe determined route, based on annotations to a map, the annotationsindicating a preference affecting the load for a portion of the map. 32.The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, whereinthe determining the determined route is based on a driver historyindicating a preference for road surroundings, lane number, amount ofnature, types of vehicles present, perceived danger, a prior-drivenroute portion, or aesthetics.
 33. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage media of claim 32, further comprising weighting the one or morefactors based on the driver history, the weighting used as part ofdetermining the determined route.
 34. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein determining thedetermined route based on the one or more factors weights the factorsbased on a current condition of the driver or of a vehicle in which thedriver resides or is associated.
 35. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 34, wherein the currentcondition is children in the vehicle, the current condition increasing aweight of the cognitive, emotional, or psychological load for theperceived danger of the portion of the at least one of the potentialroutes.
 36. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim34, wherein the current condition is the driver being in a hurry, thecurrent condition decreasing a weight of the cognitive, emotional, orpsychological load for the potential routes.
 37. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, further comprisingannotating a map useable to perform the determination of the route, theannotating including an indication of a load for a portion of the map.38. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1,further comprising also providing a second determined route, the seconddetermined route being a faster or shorter route than the determinedroute, and, responsive to a selection by the driver of the determinedroute, providing the selected, determined route to the driver through anaudio or visual structure.
 39. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage media of claim 38, wherein the providing the second determinedroute indicates that the second determined route is faster or shorterthan the determined route and information about a load of the determinedroute.
 40. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim39, wherein the providing also indicates an amount of time or distancebetween the determined route and the second determined route.
 41. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, whereinproviding the determined route indicates a type of load of thedetermined route or a portion of the determined route, the type of loadindicating a lower cognitive, emotional, or psychological load based onthe road surroundings, lane number, amount of nature, types of vehiclespresent or likely to be present, perceived danger, prior-driven routeportion driven by the driver, or aesthetics for the determined route orthe portion of the determined route.
 42. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the providing thedetermined route provides a portion of the route, the portion determinedto have a low cognitive, emotional, or psychological load.
 43. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 42, wherein theproviding the portion of the route causes an audio or visual structureto provide an indication of the portion and information about a load ofthe portion of the route.
 44. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage media of claim 42, wherein the providing the portion of theroute indicates a change to an existing route, the change adding time ordistance to the existing route and reducing the cognitive, emotional, orpsychological load of the existing route.
 45. The non-transitorycomputer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein determining thedetermined route based on the one or more factors includes a factor fora number of turns.
 46. The non-transitory computer-readable storagemedia of claim 1, wherein the determining the potential routes from thestart location to the end location is further based on a time ordistance for each of the potential routes or route portions.
 47. Thenon-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein thedetermining the potential routes from the start location to the endlocation includes determining all of the route from the start locationto the end location and the providing the determine route provides allof the determined route.
 48. The non-transitory computer-readablestorage media of claim 1, wherein determining the determined route basedon the one or more factors includes a factor for a number of stoplights.
 49. The non-transitory computer-readable storage media of claim1, wherein the prior-driven route portion has been driven by the drivermultiple times.
 50. The non-transitory computer-readable storage mediaof claim 1, wherein determining the determined route based on the one ormore factors includes a factor for an angle of a turn, a mild anglehaving a lower load than a 90-degree angle.